The Great Ocean Road

Australia's Great Ocean Road

We were surprised by the amount of traffic on Australia’s Great Ocean Road.  As we continued our journey, however, we soon realized two distinct things about this highway.  First, the views are absolutely stunning.  Secondly, it is, of course, a major tourist destination.  

We were longing for a stretch after our night on the ferry.  A lady at a visitor center told us about some nearby falls.  We gladly hiked the stairs down to the overlook.  

In the next town, we discovered a flock of cockatoos posing for tourists.  We stopped to take a few photos.

Cockatoos Posing for Tourists

Although it was windy, it was a glorious, sunny day.  We definitely enjoyed it, particularly after all the rain in Tasmania.  We stopped several times to stroll the beach and get out of the traffic.  We passed (or were passed by) dozens of tour buses.  David began looking closely at the map to see if there was a quieter alternate route.  There was none, but on closer inspection, it looked as if Alamo Bay might be the end of the tourist traffic. We were delighted to find that it was. In fact, the town had a big turn around for tour buses to head back to Melbourne or other destinations east of us.

We camped at Blanket Beach and discovered we were the only ones there.  It was delightful.  Our campsite was on a bluff, so we strolled down to the beach and watched a cormorant drying his wings.  We found dozens of different shorebirds along the cozy beach.

Cormorant

Oyster Catchers and Egret

Morning brought a spectacular sunrise.  We also discovered a few koalas snoozing in the trees.  

Sunrise at Blanket Beach

We were anxious to see a variety of rock formations near Port Campbell.  The Twelve Apostles are iconic limestone stacks along the Great Ocean Road.  Several have crumbled into the sea in recent years.  The wind was fierce this day, and tourist traffic high, so we only visited one of the stacks.

One of the Twelve Apostle Limestone Stacks

We camped in the free Sawpit campground near Portland that night.  David read that we would definitely have visitors... wallabies and flocks of mooching crimson rosellas, all habituated to humans and often hand fed by campers. It was true.  As soon as we set up camp, several scout rosellas flew into the trees above us to see what we had planned to eat for the evening.  

We watched as neighboring campers fed bread to the birds.  I had one rather bruised apple that we were ready to toss.  Instead, David cut it up, and we put it on the picnic table to see what might happen.  The birds seemed grateful.

Crimson Rosella

A pouring rain soon sent us scrambling into the camper, long before any wallabies emerged.  High winds rocked us to sleep.  The following morning, with the forecast predicting more high winds and rain, we decided to leave the coast and head to the Grampians, one of Victoria’s more famous national parks, known for its sandstone mountains.